The Watcher and the Witch
by Meg F
Summary: Giles, Tara, and Willow do a summoning, and run into trouble.
1.

The Watcher and the Witch - Part I  
  
Scented smoke drifted sinuously through the air. Three figures knelt in the middle of a chalked pentagram, chanting in sequence. A fourth figure stood by the wall, watching.  
  
Xander walked through the door, carrying two pizzas. His jaw dropped as he took in the scene. "What are they doing?" he hissed in Anya's ear.   
  
"It's a summoning," Anya murmured. "They're asking for help from some sort of demon dimension - information on Glory and Dawn."  
  
"Oh. Guess that means we shouldn't bother 'em, huh?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
The chanting slowed, then stopped. Giles shook his head, mystified. "I don't know why it's not working. We'll try again later," he told Willow and Tara. He rose, wincing, then rubbed his back.   
  
Willow shrugged. "I know my rhythm was off in the fourth repetition. . .? Oh, hi, Xander!"  
  
Xander waved, placing the pizzas on the counter.  
  
"It wasn't you, honey," Tara said firmly. She helped Willow to her feet. "I'm still not sure I'm pronouncing the names correctly. If it's anyone, it's me."  
  
"It probably isn't either of you," Giles raised his eyebrows, in full librarian mode. "We're using a translation of a translation of a half-remembered spell inscribed by a madman, with substitutions for three ingredients which don't exist any more."  
  
Willow still looked downcast. "Okay. Um, does anyone else want a soda?"  
  
Anya and Xander nodded eagerly. Willow stepped out of the pentagram, careful not to touch the edges.   
  
Tara turned to Giles. "Maybe we need to try the quartz next time, instead of the emerald?"  
  
"That's an interesting idea," Giles said animatedly, rubbing his chin. "The resonance of quartz would add an entirely new facet to the spell."  
  
A dot of fire appeared above his head. It rotated slowly, then extended to both sides to become a line.   
  
"Giles!" Anya shouted, pointing. Giles looked up, grabbed Tara, and threw himself out of the way. . . erasing part of the pentagram.  
  
The line sizzled as it extended downwards, becoming a rectangle.  
  
Or a door.  
  
"Heads up!" Xander yelled as the first being flashed out, nearly as big as a large dog, flying straight for Willow. She ducked, yelping. The sodas fell to the floor as another being emerged, then another, then another, then ten more, moving dazzlingly fast. The doorway whirled and disappeared.  
  
They circled the room, chittering to each other in high-pitched voices. It was impossible to make out any details as they travelled with eye-blurring speed, but Xander could see feathers, large teeth, and long, hooked tails. They weaved in and out of each other, with no collisions in spite of their size and the limited space. "Anra'ta," Willow breathed, beside him.   
  
He hissed, "What?", and turned to look at her, but he never completed the turn. A creature darted for him. He fought, but it was over in a split-second. He was gripped firmly from behind. Something cold was at his throat. He froze.   
  
Tara and Giles were on the other side of the room, also immobilized, claws at their throats. He assumed Willow and Anya were the same. The largest creature dropped lightly onto the floor, standing on its hind legs, which made it taller than Xander. It kicked at the remains of the pentagram, then grinned abruptly, showing pointed teeth. "You will re-gret that," it said with difficulty, mouth obviously not built for speaking English. "Move not, or you die."  
  
The other unoccupied creatures crouched on the couches, which had been pushed aside to make room for the spellcasting. Mucus dripped from their mouths onto the cushions. Xander could practically feel Giles' annoyance.   
  
Xander heard the door open, and someone enter. Straining to move his eyes to their utmost, he could barely make out a long blonde ponytail. /Buffy!/ he thought with relief.   
  
"Hi, guys!" Buffy said cheerfully. "I brought all the stuff you wanted from the shop, Giles, so-" That was as far as she got. Completely unprepared, she was grabbed by one of the creatures, then a second, as she proved stronger than the others. Her bags lay forgotten on the floor.   
  
"An-oth-er one," the largest creature salivated. "An-oth-er hos-tage."  
  
"What do you want?" Giles managed, with difficulty.   
  
"We have you. You and your Slay-er. Will use for sacri-fice." The creature indicated Giles and Tara. "We see you from home. You with her, do magic. She Slay-er."  
  
Buffy frowned. "She's not-" Then she saw Tara shaking her head minutely from side to side, and Willow, eyes wet, doing the same. "- like us," she finished lamely. "She'll stop you. She won't let you do this. She's Buffy."  
  
Tara gave her a tiny smile. Message received and understood.  
  
The creature strutted up to Tara and Giles. "We know." It held up the first claw on its left arm, which was red where the others were bone-white. "Thought of that al-ready." It jabbed the claw into Tara's neck, then Giles received the same treatment. Buffy struggled, panicking. Tara's eyes rolled up in her head. Willow groaned. Giles slumped back against his captor.   
  
The largest creature nodded once to another henchcreature. It waved its claws in the air, and the rectangle appeared again. They all leapt into the air, cackling madly, and flashed through the doorway.   
  
With Giles and Tara.   
  



	2. The Watcher and the Witch -- Part II

Buffy punched the door. "What the hell do we do now?"  
  
"Swearing profusely springs to mind," Xander remarked. "Will? You know about these guys?"  
  
Willow rubbed her eyes, fighting for control. She gulped, nodding. "Yeah. They're An'rata. Exiles. We talked about them just last month. I never expected to *use* this information. . . "  
  
"Why did you let them take Tara?" Buffy demanded.   
  
"There's a rumour, Buffy," Willow said softly. "A rumour about the inhabitants of the - of the place they come from. It's not quite another dimension. It's hard to explain in English."  
  
Buffy sighed, frustrated. "Can you dumb it down for Idiot Buffy?"  
  
"Don't forget Idiot Xander," Xander contributed, grinning wildly. There was no humour in his expression. Anya took his hand, patting it comfortingly.  
  
Willow winced. "I'm not trying to insult you. I guess it doesn't really matter." She sat down on the couch, then shifted, placing a cushion behind her lower back. Restlessly, she went to the other couch, but couldn't make herself comfortable there either. She started pacing.  
  
Buffy frowned. "Sorry. I know that wasn't a dig."  
  
"Yeah - I'm just worried. Like you are," Willow agreed. "Look, Anya can probably explain this as well as I can. She helped Giles translate a passage in the D'nay Chronicles a couple weeks ago. Jump in if I miss anything, 'kay?" Anya nodded. Willow continued. "They were a slave race. Created by magic - genetic experiments, as far as we know. Exiled to a pocket of their dimension because their masters had no use for them any more. They were too vicious."  
  
"And this has *what* to do with me?" Buffy asked.  
  
Willow and Anya exchanged uneasy glances. Anya said, "Their masters were vampires."  
  
"Not your average fangs & bad breath vampires, either," Willow sighed. "Something weird. The books aren't clear."  
  
****  
  
Tara woke up to pain. Her arm was folded under her, and her neck throbbed terribly. "Careful," a voice told her softly. Giles' voice. She tried to free her arm. Whatever was under her rocked violently, and she was nearly sick.   
  
When the rocking stopped and her vision cleared, Giles had his hands on her forearms, supporting her. She smiled weakly in thanks, and looked around. They were in some sort of net, suspended from a large tree branch over the side of a mountain, next to a ledge. The ledge was about fifty feet long and ten feet wide. The net was made of tough, fibrous, sticky strands. It looked almost alive.   
  
The net had obviously been placed very carefully. It was on a huge tree which grew from the edge of the flat part. Their branch was too far for them to swing over, even if they were able to get out of the net.  
  
She looked down, and gulped. "Jagged rocks," she croaked. "Why did it have to be jagged rocks?"  
  
"I know," Giles said wryly. "There aren't enough mountains with fluffy pillows at the bottom."  
  
"Where are we?" she asked, shivering. The wind blew her hair into her eyes.  
  
He pointed towards the flat part. It led to a cave set into the side of the mountain. There was a heap of bones, some with meat still on them, outside the cave. It stunk. Roughly a third of the mountain rose up above their heads. "We're not in their dimension, which is a relief. This seems to be an offshoot into our world, overlaid on our geography. I imagine the cave must be the entry into their own realm."  
  
"And there's the exclusion circle," Tara realised, seeing an unnaturally perfect circle of white sand around the edge of the ledge, continuing down the side of the mountain, just taking in the trunk of their tree. Barely enough room for the creatures to hang them up in their net. "So they can't leave this place. They can't cross the circle, even in the air, except by magic."  
  
"Which we provided for them," Giles completed, rubbing his eyes. "Pity, really."  
  
"What do we do now?" she asked in a small voice.  
  
"Try to remain calm," he said. He smiled at her kindly. "I know it's difficult, and I'm concerned, too. We both know about the An'rata."  
  
Tara took in a deep breath. " 'Concerned' is an understatement, I think. I'm terrified." He patted her arm inadequately. Attempting to distract herself, she mused, "I wonder where we are?"   
  
"I think it's the Southern Hemisphere," Giles said, looking at the sun. "Assuming the transit took as long as it felt like, and assuming that way," he pointed, "is north, we're in the Southern Hemisphere. I wonder what they want us for."  
  
Tara swallowed, trying to control her nausea. She indicated the pile of meat and bones, smiling wryly. "Housekeeping?"  
  
Giles looked at her sharply, then grinned. "Good for you."  
  
****  
  
"I think I got it," Willow said, stretching her shoulders. "Man, I hate those spells."  
  
Buffy nodded, rubbing her neck. "So where is this magical, mystical place that we have to travel to?"  
  
Anya and Xander started clearing away the ingredients - candles, incense, and a globe - listening intently.   
  
Willow smiled a bemused sort of smile. "Mount Wellington. Tasmania, Australia."  
  
****  
  
There was a huge commotion inside the cave. A dozen An'rata flew out, calling and chittering to one another. The leader settled down in front of them, on the plateau. The others did dizzying circles around the net, some disturbingly close.   
  
"Ahh," the leader strutted. "My prize. My Slay-er and Watch-er."  
  
"What are you going to do?" Giles said arrogantly.  
  
"Test you," the leader told him. "Things we must know. Your abili-ties. How you heal."  
  
Tara froze. That didn't sound good. Suddenly, the leader leaned forward and grabbed her by the arm.   
  
"We not sure who you are. You have power. What kind?" His breath stank of rotten meat. Her arm began to go numb. "I not sure. If you Slay-er, you save."   
  
Before Tara could figure out what he meant, he gestured to one of the An'rata flying around their net. The creature cackled, flew in closer, and sliced through the bottom of the net.  
  
Giles fell out.   
  
Tara screamed. Time seemed to expand. Nightmarishly slow, her feet scrabbled for purchase on the netting as she hung from the leader's grip on her arm. She managed to hook her left arm around a loop, holding on with her right hand. Giles. . .   
  
. . . grabbed the end of a strand, face stark white. Time sped up again. Tara twisted herself out of the leader's claw and clambered down to the bottom of the net. She could hear Giles breathing in harsh, short inhalations. His face was contorted in pain, his knuckles bone-white on his tiny piece of rope - which was beginning to fray. Carefully, she coiled two spare loops around her feet, clutched another with her left hand, then hung from her knees, stretching her right hand towards Giles.   
  
The world narrowed down to just the two of them. Tara was vaguely aware of the An'rata flying around her, laughing and jeering, but all that mattered was Giles. Grunting with effort, he strained his other hand up to hers. "I won't let you fall," she told him intently.   



End file.
